A chance to fight
by Aspriles
Summary: They failed to recruit Harry during the summer before his fifth year. Now a year later they succeed and present him with an offer he can't refuse... a chance to fight. Spoilers for Book 5. Will probably rated R later
1. The Patronus Flame

**A/N: **I posted the beginnings of this story over a month ago, but I have since then changed it. This is a completely new prologue. The original has been moved to chapter one, which I have reedited and added a few new scenes. I've decided to post the prologue now, even though I don't have chapter one finished yet. I'll try to get it finished quickly. I can't and won't make promises of a due date.

  


  


** Prologue:   
The Patronus Flame **

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* - "Bow to death, Harry... It might even be painless... I would not know... I have never died..."

He was never going to see Ron an Hermione again-

And their faces burst clearly into his mind as he fought for breath-

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

An enormous sliver stag erupted from the tip of Harry's wand; its antlers caught the dementor in the place where the heart should have been; it was thrown backwards, weightless as darkness, and as the stag charged, the dementor swooped away, batlike and defeated.

"THIS WAY!" Harry shouted at the stag. Wheeling around, he sprinted down the alleyway, holding the lit wand aloft. "DUDLEY? DUDLEY!"

He had run barely a dozen steps when he reached them: Dudley was curled on the ground, his arm clamped over his face; a second dementor was crouching low over him, gripping his wrists in its slimy hands, prizing them slowly, almost lovingly apart, lowering its hooded toward Dudley's face as though about to kiss him...

"GET IT!" Harry bellowed, and with a rushing, roaring sound, the silver stag he had conjured came galloping back past him. The dementor's eyeless face was barely an inch from Dudley's when the silver antlers caught it; the thing was thrown up into the air, and like its fellow, it soared away and was absorbed into the darkness. The stag cantered to the end of the alleyway and dissolved into silver mist.

* Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter One - J.K. Rowling

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It was still hungry. It couldn't feed off the human, it was forced to flee. Now that it is far enough away it could hunt again without disturbance.

There were many souls around. Defenseless, full of life and happiness, the air was filled with good. More than enough for it to feed off, yet it wanted more. It wanted to consume. To drain the essence of life. It has been a long time since it was allowed a soul.

* * * *  
  


"DAMMIT!!" she yelled in frustration as she ran down the street. She was following the blackness as it glided over the houses block by block. It was slowing down. 

It was about to feed.

Her mission had just fallen apart. She was supposed to meet with him while his guard was distracted. They were hoping he would join. Considering the danger he was in, he could use their help. She and her partner were chosen to make contact with him and give him their offer. They never expected this!! Dementors? In a non-magical neighborhood!

They were going to intervene when they caught sight of them attacking him, but before they could, he had already shouted his spell and a beautiful giant stag burst forth and head-butted the first dementor before charging after the second on his command. 

His patronus was magnificent, and he was only 15!! They unfortunately lost their chance when he used magic. Now both the ministry and his guard would be all over him. They would have to wait. In the mean time the two dementors while beaten, were still alive. And now she was chasing one of them that was slowly heading south. 

Picking up her pace, she dashed swiftly between two houses. Her steps were light quick and confident, her goal not more than 50 meters away. Running through the backyard, she paused to fire off spell at the blackness. The white fireball illuminated the surrounding area with a brief blast of brilliant white light before disappearing into the night. She missed. Continuing her chase she jumped onto a doghouse and used its height to propel herself over the fence into the back alley. The blackness remain still for a moment before descending over a nearby home. 

Once again the stars disappeared and the cold settled over the area. Outside sounds drifted away, leaving a terrifying silence. Steadying her wand she hopped over another wooden fence, and onto the property where the dementor descended. 

* * * *

The man and woman cuddled in bed, content in each others arms. It had been a rather hectic day for them, and they were exhausted. The man had spent a good portion of his morning and afternoon arguing with the manager of a drill company that was supplying him with titanium coated drills for use on hard cold steel. He needed them to finish the final part of their newly designed die by tomorrow so they could begin stamping. He was already behind schedule, and this Dursley asshole wasn't making things easy.

His wife was amazingly understanding of his frustrations every time he came home angry. She was always there to calm and soothe him, and he loved her for that. In fact he was sleeping rather peacefully that night thanks to the exhausting yet ever so pleasurable effort of his wife.

Sleeping peacefully in each others embrace they were blissfully unaware of the threat literary looming over them. The darkest of all dark creatures had made its choice.

As if it never existed the warmth of the bedroom suddenly disappeared leaving a cold that penetrated the depths of their dreams twisting them into nightmares. The couple unconsciously huddled closer against each other, drawing their blankets tighter. Their hand and arms began twitching almost imperceptibly as their nightmares fought against the control their minds had over their bodies.

Quickly and swiftly the darkness spread, dimming the streetlights to nothing. A dark blanket settled over the windows bringing with it void of sound and light. Once again the creature descended over them through the door, hallway and ever so quietly into their room. The cold intensified, the comfort of each other no longer providing the feeling of warmth and security. The nightmares reached their peak, the fear they felt only just beginning. Still unconscious their minds finally lost the battle. It could no longer keep their bodies still and silent.

They screamed.

* * * *

"Alohamora"

A sharp, quick _click_ resonated in the darkness, giving the only sign that someone was there. With practiced ease the door swung open silently just large enough for someone to slip in. The young woman who had been chasing the dementor for the last 20 minutes spent no time in entering the house. Not bothering to close it she ran to her left through the living room into the kitchen. In the corner of her eye she caught a small bowl filled with different kinds of chocolate as she ran into the hall. Wand still in hand, and not even stopping she summoned the bowl to her. Flying though the kitchen and into the hall it reached her just as she cleared the first room on the left.

Chocolate in hand she jump from room to room scanning each one with the light from her wand. The bitter cold increased as she made her way to the end, searching for the other intruder. She had made it the second to the last room on the right when she heard the scream.

It was coming from the last room at the very end.

Not wasting a second she took off down the hall at full speed. With her wand in hand she began to raise it to the door, waiting for the right time...

"_REDUCTO!!"_

Following right behind her spell, she took one more step before throwing her self forward into a dive. The curse hit the door a little above shoulder height. The door burst foward just before she would have hit. Still flying, wand pointed forward she saw for a second the threat.

It was hovering just over the couples head, its hand extended slowly prying apart the screaming couple, the dementor began to pull back its hood preparing to feed. It took no notice to the commotion behind it, which was unfortunate for it as it didn't realize the threat, until it was too late.

The splinters of wood from the door, was slashing into her skin as she flew though where the door once was. She ignored the pain though because in front of her was something more important. Before she hit the ground she shouted one spell. The one she had been waiting to try. The one she was also most afraid wouldn't work.

"_INCENDIO PATRONUM!"_

_I hope it works_ she thought as she hit the floor with a painful thump.

In that second a brilliant white fireball burst from her wand, temporary bathing the entire room with a painfully hot light. The fireball flew forward and hit the dementor square in the back. White fire quickly spread around the creature slowly, causing it to thrash around in an attempt to put itself out. Arching its back the dementor let out a intense unholy scream that resonated though the entire room as it was slowly consumed. As the last of the creature was covered in flames it paused for a second, the silence barely registering to the woman, before the entire creature exploded. The white shockwave burst outwards though the house and surrounding neighborhood banishing the darkness once again.

Lifting her head from the floor the woman, who had took cover from the blast, glance around the room. The remnants of the door were spread all over the foot of the bed, and to her left a broken lamp which she didn't remember hitting was laying on the floor.

Standing up she made a quick assessment of herself, checking herself making sure nothing was broken, finding nothing wrong, she look to the bed. What she saw made her groan.

Huddling together at the head of the bed the couple were curled up into a fetal position. They were wide awake, and trembling.

"Its ok I'm not going to hurt you." She spoke as quietly and soothingly as she could, and made her way over to them. " Here, I want you to eat some of this chocolate." As she neared them though they once again began screaming. The man shielding his wife screamed a high pitched blood curdling scream that nearly blew out her eardrums.

"It's alright. I'm here to help. I'm NOT GOING TO HURT YOU," she shouted over his voice. Unfortunately it only made it worse as the couple began shifting away from her.

With a sigh of defeat, the woman once again took out her wand, and pointed it at them.

"_Imperio"_

_"Imperio"_

Instantly the two stopped screaming and relaxed, as the curse took a hold of their minds.

"Good." The woman said in a more cheerful voice. She moved to them and sat on the bed on their right. Getting comfortable, she sat the bowl of chocolate down next to them, and unwrapped a few pieces. After popping one into her mouth, she held out the other two. "Eat these" she commanded.

Without hesitation the couple grabbed the candy and began to eat them. As their strength grew the woman pulled out two vials of a potion. When the couple were done with the chocolate she ordered them to drink. With that she ordered them to bed. As the potion began to take effect she finally released the curses. Before they could gather their thoughts back together, the effects of the potion reached its peak, and they were out like a light.

Getting off the bed the woman pointed her wand at the pieces of the door and muttered a spell. Instantly the pieces began to weave themselves, and rise back into position. With that finished, she walked down the hall repairing all the doors along the way. Once everything was cleaned up, she set the chocolate bowl back in the kitchen and walked out of the house. With luck the couple would think the entire night was merely a bad dream.

Raising her hand to her ear, she grasped her earring with her finger and thumb, squeezed and spoke.

"Shade to Falcon, I got mine. How'd you do?"

"Falcon here, just finished up the other one. Couldn't stop it from feeding off a non-mag though, I'm gonna have to use memory charms on the relatives and just tell them the guy 's dead... poor bastard. This new spell really works though, blew it straight to hell. Thought I'd never see the day a dementor was killed."

"Yeah it sure does work. Mine was about to feed on a couple while they were sleeping. Poor guys were scared shitless when I blasted my way in and hit it. Had to use Imperious to get them to calm down and take some chocolate, and dreamless sleep potion. Hopefully by morning they'll be ok and just chalk it up to being some kind of dream."

"Alright I gotta fix this place up... did a bit of damage gettin in here. I'll see ya back at the base in while."

"What about the kid?"

"Won't be able to get to him now... probably got half the ministry and order watching him. We're gonna have to wait it out 'till he's alone again."

"Which probably won't be until next summer."

"Yeah probably, but that means he'll have more skills then, which will be easier on us in the long run eh?"

"I really wished we could have gotten to him this year though. Kid has no idea what's going on, he trapped in a non-magical hellhole, and frustrated as hell. He's going to get into trouble, and nobody's going to be there to help."

"We'll just have to stay on the sidelines for now, throw in a gun when we can, and hope he knows how to use it. In the mean time we can help his friend out as much as possible, she'll be there for him."

"Yeah. I'm planning on stopping over at her place and drop off a few books tonight before she heads to the order's hideout. I'll fill her in. See ya later."

"Later."

With a final squeeze of her earring, the connection was cut. The woman known as Shade glance up at the stars briefly before taking out her wand and with a almost imperceptible _pop,_ disappeared.

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**A/N:** I think this is much better then the last, tell me what you think. I unfortunately don't have a beta reader, so there bound to be a few mistakes around. If anybody catches any or has any suggestions as to improve my writing, write a review, or send me an email . The address is in my profile. Thank you. 


	2. The Parselmouth Bed and Breakfast

_Disclaimer: _Original characters are mine, along with the plot, nothing else.

**A/N: **Just a quick note: _**This signifies that a snake is talking** _ and _This means someone is thinking. Letters, and book titles are also written this way._

**__**

Chapter 1

The Parselmouth Bed and Breakfast

Hiding in the shadows, a man sat... broken and lost. In a house built for the dark, exploited by the light, hidden under a shroud of magic, he dwelled. Dwelled on the memories of his family, his pack. A bottle in one hand half empty-- a tissue in another, he wept. 

He was alone.

All he ever cared about-- lost. Lost before their time, kill at the hands of traitors, murders, servants of the dark. His friends.. no, his brothers, whom stood by him even when his secret was revealed, were gone. His pack who guarded him at night, kept him sane when the beast took control, were mere memories now.

In common room of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, Remus J. Lupin sat, brooding. In front of the fire, he cried, he drank-- he mourned. He was so alone.

Or was he? 

Staring at the fire through blurry eyes, he took another drink. The alcohol burned in his throat, but he didn't care. He relished in it, the pain. He wanted it. Still in a drunken stupor he stared into the fire, and watched.

The memories flash in his mind. His first year at Hogwarts, meeting James and Sirius. Planning pranks, running from teachers, making up stories for is absences. His friend confronting him. Telling the truth. His friends showing their support. Breaking the rules. Seeing his friends in the shack before his transformation. Watching as they transformed for the first time. Running through the woods. Being chased by a spider. Attacking a troll. Exploring Hogsmeade. Graduation. James and Lily's wedding. Lily's pregnancy announcement. Choosing the godfather. Seeing little Harry for the first time...

Harry...

How could he forget about him?

Remus glanced at the bottle clutched in his hand, with disgust. What was he doing? This was no way to mourn. What about Harry? What does he have now that Sirius is gone? Then it hit him. Quicker than he realized his drunken stupor dissolved. He thoughts were becoming clearer. With one more glance at the bottle, he squared his shoulders and spoke out loud for the entire room to hear.

"He has me."

He was a damn Gryffindor. Its about time he started acting like one. He has his family to protect now. Maybe... just maybe Harry could join his pack 

And thinking, he chucked the bottle into the flames. 

Bad idea.

_Aww shit! _

He watched as the bottle flew into the fire. He really should have given it a second thought.

_Oh well, might as well save yourself_. 

With that cheerful idea, he jumped up and ran toward door, barely making it out of the room before the bottle exploded. Slouching against the wall of the hallway he couldn't help but chuckle a little.

Molly's going to be pissed.

He paused. A wave of fear flooded through him, like ice pouring down his spine.

Remus J. Lupin gulped.

_Shit_.  
  


* * *

Life at Private Drive still hadn't changed much this summer. It was still nearly hot enough to melt rocks, and still miserable and boring enough for Harry that he would probably watch them melt. Every living thing he could see was doing his, her, or its best to cool down. Harry occasionally caught one or two of the numerous cats belonging to Mrs. Figg stop their patrolling of the neighborhood to take a quick run through a nearby sprinkler. 

Apparently the blistering heat was enough to override their fear of water. 

Even Hedwig would, much to Harry's amusement, every once in a while swoop out of the window down in the yard and fly back and forth through the misty water before flying back up and drenching his desk and everything else within 2 feet when she shook herself.

"You keep doing that and you're going wash all the oil off your feathers and ruin them, then how are you going to fly?" Harry said jokingly, after Hedwig flew back in soaked, for the fifth time.

Her only response was to ruffle her feathers and shake her head violently splashing Harry's face and glasses, hooting the entire time. Harry was positive she was laughing her head off.

"Laugh it up featherhead" he responded indignantly, as he removed his glasses and wiped them off with his shirt, scowling the entire time. "I could make you deliver letters in this heat instead of at night if I wanted to."

Hedwig merely hopped back up to the window, glanced down at the sprinklers and hooted a few times, as if to say _I'll still just fly through it again, getting them soaked._

Harry couldn't help but chuckle a little at her response. Although he wouldn't admit it to her, he enjoyed their occasional banter, it reminded him of Ron and Hermione's daily quarrels. Even though she couldn't talk she was more than capable of portraying her meaning with hoots and bodily gestures. The closeness that she and Harry had developed over the years has allowed Harry to understand her almost as if she was really talking. Especially this past month, though he avoided talking to others, he felt closer to Hedwig, and would frequently spend hours with her on his lap while he talked about everything. She always listened, and did her best to comfort him, by nudging him of nibbling his finger affectionately. He didn't even considered her an animal at all anymore. To him she was just another intelligent person that he could talk to, and ask to delivery letters.

Harry leaned back on his bed and propped himself against the wall again. Hedwig's return only gave him a temporary distraction from the gloomy mood he had been in since he arrived back last week. Normally by this time he would have received a letter from Sirius, making sure he got settled in, and reassuring him that he was safe and everything was going to be fine. Not this time though. _And not ever,_ he told himself. Every night he would glance up at the stars and wish, beg and sometimes demand that Sirius come back. 

And every time he would fall asleep his calls unanswered.

Thankfully Ron and Hermione only mentioned Sirius once in their letters and then only to ask how he was handling it. Harry decided to answer truthfully in hopes that they wouldn't bother him about it anymore. They responded differently than he expected this summer. Instead of giving him their pity, they send him things to take his mind off Sirius, which both surprised, and delighted him. Ron predictably sent bags full of chocolate frogs, Every Flavored beans, Cauldron Cakes, and Pumpkin Pastries. _Leave it to Ron to chose food as a way to distract yourself_, he thought.

What Hermione sent was what Harry was most thankful for and were a big help to his mood. As usual she sent a series of books, but it wasn't what he had expected. Instead of self help psychology books, or the newest addition of _Quidditch through the Ages_. She sent a series of defense against the dark arts books, with a note telling him to use them to protect those he had left. Many books had an extensive list of Dark spells and their descriptions along with the counters. She even send a few less serious spell books including, _Curses and Counter-curses: (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies...)_ a book he had wanted since his first year. With those at his disposal Harry felt somewhat confident that he would be able to defend those he cared about better then he did before.

While his friends tried their best to help, and he was more then thankful for that, he still couldn't keep his mind from wandering frequently to all that has happened. And his dreams were certainly of no help either. Only on the nights when he had immersed himself in the books Hermione send and fell asleep exhausted did he get any rest, any other time his mind was plagued with dreams filled with screams from Sirius and curses from Bellatrix Lestrange as Harry relived his memory of the Department of Mysteries...

_**Doesss your bird friend have any more miccce?** _

The hissing voice broke the silence of the room was so suddenly that it scared Harry from his thoughts and brooding. He threw his head forward so quickly that he heard and felt a deep _pop_ in in his neck.

Hissing in pain, Harry glanced around the room looking for the source of the voice, before sitting up and taking a look on the floor. There he saw two gray adder snakes one with a bluish lightning pattern on its back and the other with a dark green pattern. The blue one who asked the question was looking at him while the other was slithering around smelling everything with his tongue.

Massaging his neck he stood and checked Hedwig's cage. In it he found one half eaten rat, and a dead mouse that she brought in last night after she finished a delivery. He reached in and grabbed the mouse by its tail and pulled it out holding his hand under to keep the blood from dripping anywhere.

"Do you mind?" he asked Hedwig dangling the mouse in front of her then nodding to the two snakes on the floor.

She hooted and nodded her head in consent, then hopped to the edge of Harry's desk, and observed as Harry made a series of hissing sounds at the blue snake then dropped the mouse to the floor in front of it. The snake backed off slightly then turned and hissed to the green one who slithered over, opened his mouth as wide as it could and began swallowing its meal.

Harry glanced back to Hedwig who was still watching the green snake in apparent fascination, and hooting every time the snake jerked on the mouse. "The other one is hungry too Hedwig, would you mind going hunting tonight and picking up small rat or mouse for him?"

Turning to him, Hedwig gave a quick hoot which Harry took as an "Ok" then turned back to the snake watching even closer now as the last half an inch of the mouse disappeared.

Harry couldn't help but laugh as Hedwig continued to observe the lump in the green snake very slowly move deeper into its body. He had only seen Hedwig this attentive when she was eying prey, but then she was merely stalking, now though she was watching with complete, utter fascination. 

Harry had met the two snakes the day after he arrived from Hogwarts, resting under one of the bushes he was trimming. His aunt and uncle had gleefully dumped loads of chores on him to do throughout the day feeling he deserved it and would keep him occupied. It was that same morning that he received his first letter of the summer, only this time its wasn't from Sirius. His Uncle Vernon snatched the letter before he could, and began to read it out loud to his Aunt. Only the first part of the letter was meant for them, but that didn't stop them from reading half way though the rest...

Dear Harry and Dursleys,

Just wanted to give a quick reminder to you Harry to make sure you write at least once every three days so we know how your doing.

As for you Dursleys, I want to remind you of our **warning** that if any harm comes to Harry, a curse will be the least of your worries. And to make sure that Harry is telling the truth and not being threatened or coerced into lying, I've included a stack of special parchment and ink that will prevent Harry from writing anything that is untruthful. It's with those that we want you Harry to write your report to us. If you don't, we'll assume the worst and come barging through the door within minutes. If we haven't received an owl by the fourth day we'll come, and if we don't like what Harry has to say we'll be there.

Now Harry, I didn't get to say much to you at the station, but I wanted to say I'm sorry. I can't help thinking that maybe I couldn't have done something else, maybe placed a body-bind on him to get him to stay where he was safe, or if I had just turned around before that death eater shot the curse...

I'm sorry.

I can tell you that I know how you feel about all of this, because I went through it 15 years ago. And now, just when I was starting to get used to having at least one member of my family back, and just when I was starting to enjoy life again, its gone.

Please, I know you haven't really talked about all this to anybody. And neither have I. I was hoping that maybe I could talk to you, and maybe you could talk to me. You're the last one Harry the last of my family. 

We all took a vow when you were born that we would all help take care of our children. James was the first to have a kid, and after seeing you, both Sirius and I (Well mostly I, Sirius still wanted to just window shop) were ready to settle down to. When we first saw you we were speechless, literally. James and Sirius thought you were the coolest thing in the world, and couldn't wait to take you up on a broom, or bike. (They argued for hours who was going to take you up into the air first, until Lily threaten both with their lives if they did anything like that until you were at least 2 so that pretty much ended their argument) When I saw you I couldn't help think of you just as much of my son as James and Lily's. We all loved you and we could tell you loved all of us just as much.

I just want to say that I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere I promise you that. Both of our families are gone now so let me help you. Let me get to know you more, tell me about your life at school, and I'll tell you anything you want to know about **our** family Sirius, James and Lily. Maybe after a while the pain will be easier to bear for the both of us.

Your Friend, Your Family,

Love,

Remus

All Harry could do was stare down and listen as Vernon grunted in distaste after every sentence. They really didn't care what Harry felt nor did they pay much attention to the rest of the letter. All they saw was the threats in the beginning. _At least they didn't ask who Remus was talking about._

"Who the hell do they think they are telling me what I can and can't do with the boy?" Vernon bellowed, shaking Harry out of his thoughts, he shot a long disgusted look at Harry before tossing the letter at him, and with a final grunt getting up and leaving for work.

Following his example Petunia shot up and with a glare tossed list of chores at Harry.

"I want all of that done by the time Vernon gets home, or so help me those _freak_ friends of yours won't have anything rescue when Vernon's through with you," she said with a snarl before marching upstairs.

Harry was still sitting at the table reading the last of the letter. He barely heard what she said, tears threatening to fall once again as he reread the part about his parents and Sirius, still he couldn't help feel a little proud of what they thought of him as a baby, and his mothers actions quickly brought a small chuckle to his throat. Tucking away the letter he forced himself to calm down. After the frequent angry outbursts throughout the year, Harry took measures to try to calm himself as much as he could. And now with Sirius' death he knew he would be even more moody these days. 

Standing up he grabbed the list his aunt tossed at him a took a quick glance. He decided to get the outdoor chores done before the day got too hot. Besides, it gave him time alone to think about what Remus had said.

...maybe I could talk to you, and maybe you could talk to me.

Maybe he could talk to Remus, and maybe he would. It sounded like he felt just as terrible as he did, and knowing that at least someone understood helped. He felt better in a way. First Luna, and now Remus... _Maybe I'm really not alone in this_.

And with that thought he tackled the front lawn with zeal, his thoughts already on what he would say to Remus when he replied, and on what he would ask him... at least until the hissing distracted him.

****

Why do you humansss go around cutting plantssss all the time if you don't even eat them?

Still deep in thought about the letter, Harry answered automatically without paying much attention. "My aunt and uncle like their lawn to be well manicured, so I have to go around cutting and trimming the loose leaves and branches."

****

...

Did you jusssst talk back to me?!?

"Huh?" Harry asked as he looked up from his work. He took a quick glance around him looking for the source of the voice.

"Who said that?" he asked louder this time, moving his hand toward his pocket where his wand was hidden. He leaned back a little more trying to look out across the yard and into the street, but he saw nothing.

He did however feel something.

Something on his hand... and in front of him.

"WHAT THE HELL!!!" He screamed, jerking his hand backwards so quickly that he lost his footing and fell flat on his back.

**_Sssorry, I didn't mean to ssscare you_**, The voiced said again. Sitting up and rubbing the back of his head, Harry look in front of him to see two black eyes unmistakably belonging to an adder snake staring straight at him

"Wh- what are you d-doing there?" Harry questioned while trying to force his heart to slow down.

****

I'm trying to build up sssome heat, but your ruining the plantsss, which I'll need to ussse asss ssshelter later to cool down... and what doesss manicured mean anyway?

After a quick study of the blue snake, as it slithered around him smelling everything he decided that the snake wasn't a threat. Harry relaxed and picked up the trimmers before continuing with his work. At least now he would have someone to talk to.

"It means both my aunt and uncle want the plant to look good, clean and well trimmed," he answered after snipping off a few more leaves. The snake slithered around to his side watching and listening with interest as he explained what he was doing to the yard and why. The two spent the next few hours talking about anything and everything. He started off by explaining briefly about how he could talk to snakes, and that he was a wizard, a concept that the snake didn't understand, having never heard off magic at all. Harry then began to give another quick explanation about magic, and from their began talking about random things in his life, including matters related to Voldemort. He told the snake who he was and that he too could talk to snakes, although the snake was curious, it wasn't too anxious to meet Voldemort after Harry described the reason everybody considered him a dark lord. After that both the snake and him traded details about the others lifestyles, granted Harry did most of the talking since the snake's life wasn't very adventurous. Harry spent almost 30 minutes explaining the things he ate, which was difficult to understand to one who's diet consisted of small creatures. 

It was around midday when Harry finished his outdoor chores, the temperature had risen high enough for Harry to start sweating, and the snake to start looking for shade. Harry had actually enjoyed the snake's company. He never got around to asking its name, but he got a feeling that it didn't really matter, so he didn't bother himself with it. He was bothered about where the snake would find shelter now that he had trimmed the bushes around his house. After a minute of decision, he resigned to ask the question he had been wanting to ask for a while.

"Umm... if you want to, you're welcome to come to my room and stay during the day to escape the heat, and it would be nice to have someone to talk to who doesn't tell me I'm worthless all the time."

The snake looked up at Harry hesitantly considering his words.** _Isss your room cool in the daytime?_** it asked. Harry nodded his head, and bent down to the snake to present his arm.

"It's cooler than out here at least, climb on and I'll take you up to show you, I've even got a lamp you can use to stay warm at night." He held still as the snake slithered up and coiled around his arm, it rested its head on his shoulder as he stood up. Brushing himself off he trudged wearily back inside. Harry paused inside the house listening for any signs of his aunt or cousin, before quietly climbing up the stairs to his room, careful to avoid the bottom step so he wouldn't alert the house of his presence and give his aunt and excuse to rant and rave at him.

In his room, Harry bent down and let the snake slide off his arm to explore it surroundings. While it was busy, he set himself down at his desk to begin his letter to Remus, unfortunately he didn't get very far before the snake, done with its exploration began talking again.

_**I like thisss room, it hassss many dark, and many light placccessss... I can leave if I want to??** _He asked hesitantly.

"Of course you can, I won't keep you against you will," he responded slightly taken back by the question. "Why do you ask?"

_**I jussst heard from other sssnakesss that sssome humansss keep our kind in invisssible boxessss, never letting them go** _The snake looked down slightly as if both sad and embarrassed with asking his previous question, Harry could also sense a bit of fear in it voice too, which only made Harry feel terrible. After talking with the snake all morning, Harry himself felt a little guilty, and sad for those caged. He had began again to think of the snake, and all snakes because of it, like people, just like he considers Hedwig.

"I won't do that to you, or any of your kind... I promise" he said bending down to look at the snake closer. "If you ever want to leave, I'll either carry you out or you can crawl out the window... I'll have to set something out the window so you can crawl down if you ever wanted to... and I can ask Hedwig to get some mice for you whenever your hungry, of course you'll have to wait until night, because that's her best hunting times." He continued to ramble on about accommodations for another ten minutes, until he was satisfied, and the snake was so grateful that it was thank him over and over again. After another ten minutes of thanks, the snake paused once more to think before asking another question.

****

I sssaw another sssnake nearby yesssterday, would you allow him to ssstay here too?

Harry didn't have to think about that. He knew his friend would probably like someone of his kind for company, so he quickly agreed. As he sat back down at his small desk to resume his letter, he couldn't help but chuckle as a thought struck him.

**_The Parselmouth Bed and Breakfast:_**_ All snakes, all kinds, come one come all. Meals on demand and always guaranteed fresh by the manager.  
  
_

* * *

Harry had made sure that Hedwig knew that the two snakes that come and go from Harry's room were not to be harmed, and he told the same to the snakes about Hedwig. Both sides agreed not to harm the other and Harry assured the snakes that he would make sure that any owls that came wouldn't harm them. He even asked Hedwig to protect them when he wasn't in the room, a job that she agreed to with a hoot. Though Harry could have sworn there was a hint of disappointment in her tone. _She would probably rather eat them._

Taking one last glance at the two snakes on the floor, Harry sat back on his bed, once again leaning against the wall. He closed his eyes, emptied his mind, and let his hearing be his eyes. He had recently discovered the calming affect this had on his mind which was still plagued with sadness, he also found he was less angry in general after spending at least twenty to thirty minutes meditating. He listen to all the sounds around him all at once, the singing of the birds, the spray of the water, the soft hissing from the snakes, Hedwig's claws tapping on his desk, everything came at him all seemingly fighting for his attention, but he ignored it all, and at the same time listen to it all.

He listen to everything, occasionally focusing on one unique sound that he couldn't quite place. He never actually tried to think of what he was hearing, but after a few minutes of listening he found the possibilities of what the sound was just appear in his mind almost as if it had always been there. He sat still for the rest of the hour letting his mind wander from sound to sound, judging distances, and causes. At long last he fell asleep just as the sun began it final decent for the day. The last thing that ran though his mind before sleep claimed him was a feeling... a feeling of anxiety, and anticipation? Something was going to happen, something that he felt would change him, and yet he wasn't all to worried for himself. Confusion joined the last of his thoughts, but he was already out before he could register what he felt.  
  


* * *

"The Order changes guards 4 times a day every six hours. The time we're most concerned about is the one at midnight. The man on duty before midnight is usually Mundungus Fletcher, while he was easy to lure away last time, he won't make the same mistake again and he's even more alert now. Seems he's trying to make up for leaving the last time" 

"Which is why we're not going to move until after the he leaves his shift."

"Precisely, every night at one minute to twelve Fletcher puts up a quick and temporary charm that basically keeps muggles for glancing at them. Then Emmeline Vance apparates in, and after exchanging a few words, Fletcher apparates out. The charm drops at exactly midnight, leaving Vance to begin her shift."

"As we have observed the Order guards are most alert during the first ten minutes or so of their shifts. Vance is no exception, which means the slightest noise would peak her curiosity."

"We know she won't venture too far away from the house, but fortunately we don't need her to. We only need to take her attention off the house for a few seconds. That's where our distraction comes in."

"We've put together a team made up of four Hogwarts operatives. All around the same age as the kid. They'll pose as a small gang. We'll deploy them a few blocks away, where they'll make their way to Private Drive and start setting off fireworks randomly. Two of the gang members are experts at disguising accents and will pose as Americans wanting to show off how they celebrate their independence."

"We've given them a series of fireworks that sounds identical to the '_crack_' from apparation. That should be enough to draw her away from the house long enough for our guy to move in. The wards are designed so entering is nearly impossible but leaving is easy, so once he's in he can remain for as long he needs. All we have to do is set up a dampening field to prevent any magical outgoing warning system from leaving the house."

"Now comes the hard part."

"Yep, this is a killer too. The wards placed around the house are magnificent, to say the least. They're tied to the DNA signatures of both the kid and his aunt. So in a way the wards are drawing energy from them. Since blood magic is powerful and nearly infinite, the wards are almost impossible to breach. Fortunately we don't have to breach them."

"We have developed a new technique with a combination of technology and magic. What we're going to do is similar to the effect of an EMP pulse, which disrupts electrical energy. We'll send a burst of energy toward the house, which we found that the magic doesn't like. What will happen, is the wards around the house will shrink in a kind of temporary implosion. The implosion will only last for about one second, but for that second there will be sections of the house that will be unshielded."

"That second will be enough for a skilled apparator or two to appear in the house before the wards reset themselves. Once they're in, the wards will expand back to their former condition, we also hope that the wards will consider our men just a new addition to the family as it's resetting, but just in case a temporary dampening field will be put up preventing any alarms from escaping the house. We hope the wards will adapt to the foreign presence quickly so we don't have to kept he dampening field up too long."

"The twins will also be joining you on this since they'll be familiar to him. It should be easier to talk to him."

Turning to Jack Cater, both Lyn Averill and Mycroft Challenor finished the briefing in a stern and slightly desperate tone.

"The Order of the Phoenix is too small and too weak to be of any help for the kid. Due to the dementor attack, and subsequent increase in security around his house, we failed to make contact with Harry Potter last year before he could be moved to the Black Manor. We've lost an entire year that we could have used to train him. Let's try and get this right this time.

"Operation set for 48 hours from now..."  
  


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**A/N:** Once again I apologies for any mistakes you see, please tell me if you find them. I'll probably end up editing this chapter again later, but for now I like the way it is. Don't hesitate to E-mail me any of your suggestions. Address provided in my bio. 

And Reviews!! I need Reviews!!!


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